Essential reading for all students of the force of nature currently operating as Rik Roots. Here you will read Rik as he happens to other people, objects and occasional lines of verse. Complementary ice cream is served to selected guests on alternate Thursdays. Visitors are reminded not to complain about the kitten photos. No spitting, and no refunds!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

my latest poem's a bit different ...

... on account of being my very first Akat poem:

Making any sense yet? No? 'Kay, let's try looking at it written out in a more conventional script:

Not working, huh. How about if I add some sound info to them there letters:

... that's IPA letters up above; they tell you how to say things rather than pretending to tell you like those delinquent latin letters.

By this point you should be able to read out the poem and admire the sounds - though given that this is the first 'poem' I've written in the language it's probably not what the native speakers would consider to be sonically pleasing.

But in case you're after some more visual information, how about we look at the poem through the lens of a different script:

Sure is pretty, huh? There's some form coming through now. See how there's an equal number of columns in the first three lines? That's a common technique for some flavours of Akat poetry - ruined in this instance by the last line only being eight and a half columns wide.

Is it a poem for you yet?

No?

'Kay, here's a translation of the poem. It is, like all translations, a bit of a dog's dinner - to make it seem more 'poetic' in English, I've had to sacrifice some of the poetry in the original:

Night steals my chest-cradled terrorlike the hawk lifts a rat from the wheat; you loosen your hair, let it flutter in the moon's breeze - a nest for faces: two bleached eggs.

You want a bit of me?

Set on a planet far from Earth, The Gods in the Jungle is an investigation of the drives and desires, fears and beliefs of the various peoples and classes of a crumbling society, through the eyes of those immediately involved in events which threaten to bring an Empire to its knees.

The RikVerse

The RikVerse website is a living book of poems, regularly revised and updated with new work as the muse I ride sees fit

22 Facets of my Father

A set of poems loosely inspired by the Major Arcana tarot cards, investigating the relationship between a father and a son.